What I do
Two things. I work out one workflow. Then, if it is worth it, I build the fix.
The audit
One workflow you choose, worked out end to end. You get a document: how it runs now, what it costs you in hours and euros, what I would do about it, a phased plan, and what it returns. You keep it whatever you decide next.
The price is agreed before I start. If you go on to build the fix, the audit price comes off the build price. If you do not, you keep the document and owe nothing more. Exactly how it works.
The build
If the numbers say the fix is worth it, I build it. The document is already the plan, so there is no second round of discovery to pay for. Built in phases, each with a check, verified working before anything goes live.
What the build actually is depends on the workflow. Sometimes it is a script. Sometimes it is a link between two systems you already pay for. Sometimes it is AI. You will know which, and why, before I write a line of it.
Often the fix is not AI
A twenty-line script. A connection between two tools you already own. Switching off something nobody uses any more, or stopping a number being typed over by hand three times a day. Those are the honest answers to most of what I get asked, and they are cheaper and duller than what you hear at a conference.
Sometimes AI genuinely is the answer, and then I use it and tell you why. I have spent three years building with it, so I can tell the difference. What I will not do is sell you AI because it sounds modern. I sell you less manual work, and the measurement that proves it went down.
What it costs
The audit is a fixed price. The build, if there is one, is a fixed price too, agreed before I begin. No hourly billing, no after-the-fact calculation, no surprises on the invoice.
If it runs over, that is my problem, not your bill.
What the build costs in your case depends on what the workflow needs. You hear that from me up front, in the document, not afterwards.
What I do not do
Just as important, and it saves us both a conversation:
- No desktop support. Rolling out laptops, connecting printers, installing Office for twenty people: there are parties who do that better and cheaper than I do. I work on the systems your business runs on, not the machines on the desks.
- No on-site work. I work remotely. If someone has to physically pull a cable at your office, I am not your man.
- No six-month projects. The audit is a week. The builds that follow are measured in weeks, not months. If your question does not fit that, it is not sharp enough yet, and that is what the audit is for.